Susan Whitfield

I am a writer, traveller, scholar and lecturer of the Silk Road. During 25 years at the British Library directing the International Dunhuang Project (IDP) and curating a collection of over 50,000 Silk Road manuscript, I had the opportunity to work on collections and sites worldwide connected with the Silk Road.

When I started out little was written about the Silk Road for a general audience and I enjoyed trying to understand everyday life of individuals as well as the complexities of the many interactions along these great trade routes of the past, hence my book 'Life Along the Silk Road.' My new book ('Silk, Slaves and Stupas'), is a collection of biographies of favourite Silk Road objects that I have been lucky enough to work with over the past two decades. I am now working as editor on a new book celebrating the landscapes, peoples, cultures, technologies and arts of the Silk Road, to be published in autumn 2019.